


Implode

by EmeraldTulip



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Background Relationships, Final Battle, Gen, M/M, Possession, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fill, Protective Siblings, Will Byers Has Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 16:31:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19338322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldTulip/pseuds/EmeraldTulip
Summary: It must all happen in a few seconds, but it all slows down around Will. Max’s voice rings in his ears, El’s blank eyes bore into his, and the monster’s cold sends a shiver down his spine. Before he can even think, something in his chest snaps. The rock explodes.





	Implode

**Author's Note:**

> this was a prompt given to me by an anon: yo if ur still taking prompts for drabbles... will getting powers 👀👀👀👀  
> takes place post-canon, in a final battle of sorts against the mind flayer. hope you enjoy!

The blow hits him right in his chest, and as Will flies backward, he just manages to close his eyes.

“Will!”

He hits a tree, hard, and collapses to the ground. He struggles to inhale for a minute, his lungs feeling crushed, but eventually he manages to suck in some oxygen as hands land on his shoulders.

“Will, oh my god,” Mike gasps, helping him into a sitting position. “It hit you and El at the same time, she couldn’t catch you—”

Will waves his hand to cut him off, nothing but a rasp coming from his mouth. He coughs once, twice, ribs aching—probably something broken in there.

“Are you okay?” Mike asks, instantly cringing at himself. It’s a stupid question.

Before Will can answer, though, a scream rings out, and Will glances over Mike’s shoulder fast enough to spot Max’s red hair as she’s sent flying across the forest and into Lucas, who tumbles over.

 ** _You don’t stand a chance against me,_** the monster rumbles, and Will searches for its shadowy tendrils amongst the trees.

Instead, El emerges from the underbrush, moving staggeringly, robotically—as if she’s being _moved_.  
****

Dustin starts to reach out for her, but her head turns and she glares, pushing Dustin onto the floor and sending him skidding away.

“Leave her alone!” Will croaks out at the sky, at the monster, struggling to his feet even as Mike tried to keep him down. He can feel the monster tugging at the reigns it planted in his own brain not so long ago, but Will won’t let it take control. Never again.

It pulls harder, sending a chorus of **_weak pathetic small easy_** as well as spike of pain through Will’s head, and he stumbles. But he won’t let it get in.

“Will,” Mike says nervously. “Will, I don’t know what he’s saying in your head, but El is—”

Mike never gets to finish that sentence, because El’s hand jerks and Mike is lifted off of his feet. Will’s breath catches in his throat, and he can only watch helplessly as Mike is flung far into the depths of the forest.  
****

“Stop!” he shouts, no longer trying to reason with the monster but with the shreds of consciousness he knows reside in El’s mind. “El! You can fight it!”

He senses movement to his side and can feel Lucas drawing back a stone in his slingshot, not knowing where to aim it. In that moment, El’s hand raises to point at Will, Max screams, and Lucas fires.

It must all happen in a few seconds, but it all slows down around Will. Max’s voice rings in his ears, El’s blank eyes bore into his, and the monster’s cold sends a shiver down his spine. Before he can even think, something in his chest snaps. Even if it’s to protect him, he can’t let Lucas hurt her.

The rock explodes, sending Max and Lucas scrambling for cover. El, if she was in her right mind, would shield herself, but the monster doesn’t have her reflexes so the shards pelt her exposed skin and tear her clothes to shreds.

She doesn’t seem to notice, and she raises a hand again. Will expects something to hit him, but instead, El pulls something from the forest.

Mike.

His toes are brushing the ground, but he can’t seem to find his balance. His eyes are wide and disoriented, and his fingers grasp at his neck where El’s grip must be. Even from where Will is standing, he can see the surprise on Mike’s face as he struggles to catch his breath. His lips move, and Will knows what he’s trying to say:

_El?_

But it’s not El in there, anymore. It’s the monster and it has Mike. So Will does something ridiculously stupid.

He closes his eyes and searches for that static blackness that El tells him stories about. He searches for the darkness he knows well.

He can feel El in there somewhere, thrashing in her smokey bonds. He pushes through the layers of anger and hate, letting it surround him, feeling a ball of his own fear condense in his stomach like he’s about to implode.

 ** _Hello again, Will,_** the Mind Flayer says. **_Is this a heroic sacrifice? Do you want me to take you and let them go instead?_**

 _No,_ Will says. _I want you to die._

Then he lets that pressure inside of him explode.

He feels, rather than hears, El scream—it’s more from exhilaration than terror or pain. There’s a roar in his head that he knows is the monster, but it doesn’t distract him. If anything, it encourages him to keep tearing away at the dark fabric that folds together to make the shadow monster. He tears it to pieces the same way he did that rock.

Then he wakes up on the ground. Mike is frantically checking his pulse, and Will squeezes his hand weakly. El seems to have dragged herself over as well. One side of her face is scratched and covered with angry red welts, and bits of rock and leaves are in her hair but—she’s alive.

“Will,” she says softly, reaching up to touch his face. “What did you do?”

“I ended it,” he replies. He pushes himself into a sitting position, looking at his hands. “I… don’t know. I tore it apart. I… I just knew I needed to get it away from you.”

“No, Will,” El shakes her head knowingly. “What did you _do_?”

He understands what she’s really asking. He feels the remnants of shadows moving under his skin. He knows that El can see the barely contained darkness crawling beneath his surface.

“It had to go somewhere,” he shrugs. He holds out his free hand, lets the black climb into his palm. “It’s dead. It won’t hurt anything anymore.”

Mike lets a sharp breath fall from his nose, and Will starts. He’d forgotten he was here, even with their fingers intertwined.

“Let me get this right,” Mike says. “You just… tore the monster to shreds… and now its—its _shadow corpse_ is in you?”

Will winces, closing his palm. “Well, when you put it that way.”

“No!” Mike exclaimed quickly. “I mean, yeah, it’s weird. But what about this isn’t weird?” He shakes his head. “I’m just… glad you’re okay.”

“It can’t hurt anyone anymore,” Will says, just a little desperately, because he’s tired of people being afraid of him and he can’t have Mike join that group. “It’s gone, I promise. The shadows—they’re mine now, _mine_. And—”

“Will,” Mike cuts him off. “It’s okay. I trust you.”

And that stops Will in his tracks, because no one has ever said that before, especially not with such conviction. Even with this darkness (no matter how inert) under his skin, Mike believes in him.

Mike must see the doubt on his face. “I do,” he says, and Will’s heart skips a beat. “I trust you.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are, as always, appreciated.  
> find me on tumblr, my main is [@willelbyers](https://willelbyers.tumblr.com) and my writing blog is [@lowriting](https://lowriting.tumblr.com)!


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